Arduino announces Materia 101 3D printer, will be sold pre-assembled or as a DIY kit

DIY electronics authority Arduino is releasing a 3D printer in collaboration with Italian 3D printing specialist Sharebot. The Arduino Materia 101 will be powered by the company’s own Arduino Mega 2560 microcontroller and true to their roots, it’ll be offered both as a kit and pre-assembled.

In a blog post on the matter, Arduino said the choice of design and the white color of the machine were selected to suggest it is easy to use. While things like aesthetics are always up for debate, the printer really doesn’t look all that different from the current crop of machines already on the market.

The company said official pricing will be disclosed at a later date but they did let on that the kit will be priced under $800 while the fully assembled unit is expected to sell for less than $1,000. It’ll be sold exclusively on the Arduino Store, we’re told.

It’s worth pointing out that the Arduino Materia 101 is very similar to Sharebot’s own Kiwi-3D printer, in terms of specifications and looks (it's even offered as a DIY kit). That’s not to say that the two machines are absolutely identical but we also can’t rule out that this could be a simple rebranding job on Arduino’s part.

The company is planning an official presentation during Maker Faire Rome which gets under way on October 3. No word yet on when the printer will go on sale, however.